We'll Always Have Paris...

Only 6 hours drive away, we spent the last weekend in Paris...


The weather called for rain all weekend, but instead it looked like this. Perfect weather for walking all over this beautiful city. Having studied French for 7 years was not a lot of help... most of the time my new German kept sneaking in and I corrected myself all weekend. (Of course, after getting back to Germany, I spent the last day converting all my "ouis" and "mercis" to "jas" and "dankes."

Instead of renting an expensive hotel (400 Euro/night= $500 dollars), we rented an apartment in the city. And while hotel rooms sleep 3 at most, we had a 2BR plus loft, much more room for less than half of the price. It was in Le Mouffetard, an area full of restaurants and great shopping. Each door has a specialized vendor behind it for cheese, wine, sweets, bread, meat, fish, etc. Most restaurants don't start serving dinner until after 7:00pm, so instead of dealing with tired kids, I would stroll the street and put together dinner from each of the vendors, and we'd eat in peace at the house.

Here's the courtyard, walled behind the busy street, leading to our apartment.




Since it was Ric and the kids' first time, we focused on hitting the highlights:

The L'Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysees.


La Tour Eiffel:
We waited on a line that snaked through this plaza for a mile, but only for about an hour before reaching the elevators. We went to the top floor and then walked down from the second floor, way below.


The view from the top of the Seine River:

Picture taking by Ethan:

Lunch at Le Louvre. Home of the world's most expensive cheeseburger (18 Euro=$25) and world's smallest/most expensive salad: 4 Romaine hearts on a dessert plate (12 Euro = $15). Yum.




Whatever!! We snuck Evelyn hard boiled eggs and apples from underneath the table when the waiter wasn't looking and quietly fed the boys peanut butter sandwiches so that we'd only have to order two things ;) And instead, we figured we'd paid for the view:

We had to whiz through Le Louvre, vowing that Ric and I should return without kids so that we can actually look at all the art instead of near-sprinting from The Mona Lisa to Winged Victory to Venus de Milo, but c'est la vie. We said it'd be a tour of the highlights.

Then a trip through Notre Dame in the late afternoon. Unbelievably beautiful.

We also took a bus tour of the city and a boat tour from the Seine River. And spent one day at a children's museum and a picnic at a large city park.


On the ride home, we took the scenic route and stopped in a lovely town on the French/German border to see an old castle and the accompanying Birds of Prey show with Eagles, Vultures, Owls, and Falcons.

View of the French countryside from the hill at the castle.


The kids might say that the best part of the weekend was getting to watch cartoons in English!! Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, and Scooby Doo, all the classics. With no TV at home this was a real treat.

And a view of the living room. There is actually a couch behind the stairs, but we usually kicked the kids off of it so heavy afternoon napping could occur.

A very very fun and beautiful weekend.